Squadra Corse Announces Itself with a Double Victory in Brazil
Lamborghini’s newly formed Squadra Corse motorsport division needed a proof point, and it got one almost immediately. At the opening round of the 2013 Gran Turismo Campeonato Brasileiro, the Blau Motorsport team brought a 2013-specification Gallardo GT3 FL2 to the Anhembi street circuit in São Paulo and proceeded to dismantle the competition. Drivers Allam Khodair and Marcelo Hahn secured both pole positions, won both races, and led Saturday’s 30-lap contest from start to finish by a margin of almost a minute over their nearest Audi rivals. That is not a competitive race. That is a statement.
The event served as a prelude to the São Paulo Indy 300, giving the result additional visibility. The crew held their lead through every driver changeover without relinquishing position, a detail that speaks as much to the team’s preparation and the car’s consistency as to outright pace. Both Khodair and Hahn had previously finished as runners-up in this series, so the hunger was real. Khodair plans to contest four different motorsport series in 2013, including the Copa NEXTEL Stock Car and the FIA GT Series, which gives a sense of the caliber of driver Lamborghini’s customer program is attracting.
The Gallardo GT3 FL2: Built for Endurance, Not Just Sprint Wins
What made the FL2 so convincing in São Paulo was not raw speed alone but the philosophy behind its development. Based on the 2013-model-year Gallardo and developed with partner Reiter Engineering for the 2013 and 2014 racing seasons, the GT3 FL2 was built around endurance priorities: “24-hour” brakes, improved engine cooling, and reduced fuel consumption. Those are not the upgrades you chase if your ambition stops at regional sprints.
The aerodynamic package reinforced that long-distance intent. A new front splitter and a rear carbon diffuser derived from the Super Trofeo car created a highly efficient aero kit designed to generate consistent downforce over extended stints. One report lists the car’s weight at 1,065 kg (2,348 lbs), roughly 25 kg lighter than its predecessor, paired with a 5.2-liter V10 producing 550 bhp through a six-speed automated manual gearbox. That naturally aspirated V10, spinning to 8,000 rpm, remains one of the great sounds in GT racing. For customer teams, the combination of proven power, reduced weight, and endurance-focused reliability engineering translates into a car that can be raced hard all weekend without drama.
One source reports the GT3 FL2 was priced at approximately €320,000 plus taxes, placing it in the same general territory as competing GT3 machinery from Porsche and Ferrari. Deliveries began in March 2013, with the car appearing in series ranging from the Le Mans Series to the Italian GT3 Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series.
Max Welti and the Strategic Bet Behind Squadra Corse
None of this happened by accident. The appointment of Max Welti as Lamborghini’s new Head of Motorsport signaled that Squadra Corse was not another half-hearted racing initiative. The division was conceived as a dedicated motorsport department extending Lamborghini’s supercar philosophy of technology and meticulous detail to its racing models, while providing structured support to customer teams. It also oversees the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, a one-make championship held across Europe, North America, and Asia that serves as a pipeline for both gentleman drivers and professional racers.
For a brand that historically approached motorsport in fits and starts, formalizing these efforts under a single division represented a genuine strategic shift. Lamborghini was no longer content to let privateers sort things out on their own. Squadra Corse centralized engineering support, parts supply, and technical development in a way that gave customer teams like Blau Motorsport a meaningful competitive advantage. The São Paulo result was the earliest, most visible evidence that the structure worked.
How Lamborghini’s Customer Racing Stacks Up Against Ferrari and Porsche
By 2013, Ferrari and Porsche had been running mature customer racing operations for years. Ferrari’s Corse Clienti program and the 458 GT3 were already well established in global GT championships, while Porsche’s 911 GT3 R benefited from decades of continuous development and an enormous global support network. Lamborghini was the newcomer, and Squadra Corse’s challenge was not just to build a fast car but to create the entire ecosystem around it: engineering support, logistics, parts availability, and the kind of institutional knowledge that wins championships over a full season rather than individual weekends.
Dominant as it was, the São Paulo result represented round one of a much longer campaign. Winning a national GT series opener is encouraging. Sustaining that performance across a global calendar against factory-backed efforts from Maranello and Stuttgart is a different proposition entirely. What Squadra Corse demonstrated in Brazil was that the Gallardo GT3 FL2 could be genuinely competitive in the hands of a well-prepared customer team, and that the division’s support structure was functional from day one.
For Lamborghini enthusiasts who had watched the brand sit on the GT racing sidelines while rivals accumulated trophies, this mattered. The next round was scheduled for June 22-23 at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba, and the real question was whether the São Paulo dominance could be repeated consistently enough to deliver a championship. Looking back from the vantage point of what Squadra Corse eventually became, with programs spanning GT3, Super Trofeo, and prototype racing, this Brazilian weekend looks like the first brick in a much larger foundation.
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